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Assistant Ford promoted to replace Ayers

The Philadelphia 76ers, who have lost eight of their last 10 en route to a 21-31 first-half record, fired coach Randy Ayers on Tuesday.

Assistant coach Chris Ford will take over as interim 76ers coach. Ford has previously been head coach of the Celtics, Bucks and Clippers.

"Randy is a great friend, but a change was needed," 76ers general manager Billy King said. `"Our goal is to put a team out there that plays hard every night. ... A lot of things haven't gone well for us. It's not fair to point the finger at one person."

Philadelphia is 1½ games behind the Celtics for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The 76ers' next game is at home Wednesday against Washington.

Ayers took over in June after the resignation of Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who left the team after six seasons to become coach of the Detroit Pistons.

The former head coach at Ohio State, Ayers spent six seasons as Brown's assistant.

Ayers seemingly lost control of the team. In recent weeks, All-Star guard Allen Iverson ripped his teammates for lacking heart and said changes had to be made. Glenn Robinson griped about his playing time, and other players also had complaints.

"There wasn't one thing," King said. "You have to do an overall evaluation. This was a very difficult decision. I've known Randy personally and professionally for a long time. I still think he's a good coach, but it just didn't work for us."

After the Sixers suffered an embarrassing 110-80 loss at home against the Celtics on Feb. 7, Ayers said he would consider changing the lineup.

But the following night, against the New Jersey Nets, the starting five remained the same: Iverson and Eric Snow at guard, Robinson and Kenny Thomas at forward, and Samuel Dalembert at center. The Sixers lost 99-87.

Dissension in the locker room, which has been growing for some time now, took a public turn for the worse in Saturday's loss to the Nets. Robinson, the team's No. 2 scorer, refused to participate in the team's huddles after he was pulled by Ayers with in the final minutes of the first half, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

After the game, Robinson complained about a lack of playing time, a comment he's made several times already this season.

"I really don't even want to talk about it," Robinson told the paper. "That's the way [Ayers] coaches, that's his style. I don't agree with it. But I said what I had to say a couple of weeks ago.

"I can't do nothing but keep playing. I don't like the way my minutes are going. I don't want to seem selfish. I don't want to make it seem like I'm just upset about myself, because I'm all about the team. I realize what I can do as far as helping this team. I just don't feel like I'm being allowed to do that sometimes."

Iverson, who leads the league in points and steals per game, lashed out at the team for a lack of heart following the team's 93-80 loss to the Raptors on Feb. 4.

"We're not playing with no heart. We're not playing with no pride. Nobody out there is taking a challenge like they should, and it's sad," Iverson told the Inquirer after the loss. "We've been a good team for six years. Then this year, we don't have a sense of urgency. We see that we're down in the standings, not in the playoffs right now, trying to fight uphill, and we're not taking the challenge."

However, the All-Star guard refused to place blame on Ayers.

"We have a lot of trust in Randy's ability," he told the paper. "We believe he can get it done. I believe in him. I know he can coach. But I mean, you can't put that on a coach. He doesn't go out there and play, not one minute of the game. He can only do so much."

All but one of the 15 Eastern Conference teams have changed coaches since the end of last season -- and now the 76ers have done it twice in that span.

Ayers was far down on King's list of candidates after Brown stepped down. King initially tried to get permission to speak to Portland coach Maurice Cheeks, a former 76ers star. Also, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said they weren't interested after speaking to King. Van Gundy took over in Houston, replacing Rudy Tomjanovich.

"When I hired Randy, I felt he was the best qualified coach," King said.

Ford joined the Sixers' coaching staff last summer after two seasons as the head coach at Brandeis University. He led the Boston Celtics to consecutive Atlantic Division titles in 1991 and 1992.

He compiled a record of 311-358 in nine seasons as head coach with Boston (1990-95), Milwaukee (1996-98 ) and the Clippers (1998-2000). His best season was his first, when the Celtics went 56-26 and reached the second round of the playoffs.

Ford won NBA championships with the Celtics as a player (1981) and an assistant coach (1984, 1986).

He also has strong ties to the Philadelphia area. A native of Atlantic City, N.J., Ford attended Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J., and went on to play at Villanova University from 1968-72, where he helped the Wildcats reach the 1971 NCAA championship game against UCLA.

Ayers went 124-108 as coach of the Buckeyes for eight years. He led Ohio State to four postseason appearances and was the AP Coach of the Year in 1991 after the Buckeyes went 27-4 and won the first of consecutive Big Ten championships.

His stay at Ohio State ended with four consecutive losing seasons and off-court troubles. As a result of 17 rules violations, the Buckeyes were put on probation by the NCAA.

Only 15 of the 33 players Ayers brought into the basketball program exhausted their eligibility. And many got into trouble with the law.

After Ayers was fired by the Buckeyes, five of his recruits were dismissed or left the program with the approval of his successor, Jim O'Brien.

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at least they are not waiting to miss 2 consecutives playoff runs before taking some measures